Symbolic protests aim at changing perceptions. Everyone agrees Occupy changed the national conversation. The 99 percent versus the one percent is now a household concept. In this achievement, Gitlin saw Occupy as successful. He has called the movement "a moral revival."

Focused political organizing hasn't been Occupy's forte — or aim. But symbolic, perception-changing events are often the forerunner of political reform.

Occupy Augusta has changed the conversation at Colby, but Kingsbury also is aiming at a tangible accomplishment. Diamond, he said, "eventually will not feel comfortable" at Colby.

If private colleges have an insatiable need for money, and if the One Percent remains where the money is, dislodging Bob Diamond won't be easy. But Colby eventually may see its reputation as more important than a few million more dollars.

Occupation grows, expands around Maine With formal occupations slated to begin Augusta and Bangor this week, and impromptu ones springing up all over the state (including one so far during daylight hours only in South Portland's Legion Square), the two-week-old OccupyMaine movement really picked up steam over the weekend.

Occupy Providence on the march It's 11:30 am on Day 3 of Occupy Providence and a small group of activists has gathered at the foot of a statue in Burnside Park to plot a march on Bank of America's Kennedy Plaza branch.

What's next for Occupy Providence? It was only a week ago that members of Occupy Providence huddled in a pedestrian tunnel on a rainy afternoon and voted 36 to 11 to leave Burnside Park, if and when the city opens a daytime shelter for the homeless.

Colby students join Diamond protests Protests aimed at ousting disgraced banker Bob Diamond as chairman of Colby College's board of trustees have expanded beyond Occupy Augusta activists to include a sizeable contingent of students at the Waterville liberal-arts college.

Photos: Occupy Boston on the National Day of Action On November 17, 2011, hundreds of Occupy Boston and MassUniting marchers (labor unions, community organizers; SEUI, Local Ironworkers, Jobs for Justice, and more) took to the city streets again in solidarity with another global day of action.

SUBVERSIVE SUMMER | June 18, 2014 Prisons, pot festivals, and Orgonon: Here are some different views of summertime Maine — seen through my personal political lens.

LEFT-RIGHT CONVERGENCE - REALLY? | June 06, 2014 “Unstoppable: A Gathering on Left-Right Convergence,” sponsored by consumer advocate Ralph Nader, featured 26 prominent liberal and conservative leaders discussing issues on which they shared positions. One was the minimum wage.

STATE OF POLARIZATION | April 30, 2014 As the campaign season begins, leading the charge on one side is a rural- and northern-Maine-based Trickle-Down Tea Party governor who sees government’s chief role as helping the rich (which he says indirectly helps working people), while he vetoes every bill in sight directly helping the poor and the struggling middle class, including Medicaid expansion, the issue that most occupied the Legislature this year and last.

MICHAEL JAMES SENT BACK TO PRISON | April 16, 2014 The hearing’s topic was whether James’s “antisocial personality disorder” was enough of a mental disease to keep him from being sent to prison.